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February 14, 2004
Lightfoot Restaurant, Leesburg, Virginia
We went to Lightfoot Restaurant for lunch. I had read good reviews about Lightfoot, and was eager to give it a try. The reviews I saw mentioned the head chef's proficiency with adding creative twists to traditional American cuisine, which sounded great to me. The restaurant was also lauded as being one of the "most romantic restaurants" by the NoVA Living Polls. Certainly, the interior decor, which was converted from what used to be a bank, had a turn-of-the-century sense of grandeur . Unfortunately, beyond this point, the restaurant failed to meet our expectations.
I have certain criteria that I expect to see in restaurants that aspire to be "upscale, and romantic". We were seated at the small table almost right behind the reception desk. That would have been acceptable, given that there's a panel which separates the table from the desk. However, the area was distinctly drafty, since it was close to the front entrance, and I was stuck trying to decide whether to shed my coat or not. Also, the tables were placed too close to each other, which immediately killed any sense of romanticism that the front entrance may have cultivated. These flaws alone probably would not have hurt the restaurant's rating, except that the service and cuisine left much to be desired.
To be fair, the quality of the food started out pretty well. The pre-entree bread basket contained several types of bread, all of which were probably freshly baked. There was a sundried-tomato herb bread, a pumpernickel raisin bread, a sweet Hawaiian-type of bread, and a jalapeno cheese bread. Every single one of these breads were excellent. We both ordered the Lightfoot spicy creamy tomato soup with roasted garlic and sweet basil, and enjoyed that quite a bit. For the entree, I ordered the sauteed lobster and fresh tomato over angel hair pasta. If I ever go back to this restaurant, I will certainly not order this dish again. The pasta was overcooked, which made it gummy and sticky. There were almost no tomatoes in the dish, despite the title of the entree. I love tomatoes, and was sorely disappointed in the lack thereof. The worst part was the sauce. I felt like I was eating a very heavy alfredo. Needless to say, I didn't even come close to finishing my entree. The best I could do was pick out the lobster pieces and eat them. Todd ordered the special, which was some type of pan-seared breaded rockfish with greens and rice. The rockfish was sitting on a huge pool of cream sauce, though. What is up with the sauce usage at this restaurant? Todd said that he felt kind of sick after eating the entree. My opinion is, if you are a good chef, you do not need to use a lot of sauce to "mask" the food. The fresh flavor of the food should be able to stand on its own. After ignoring us for most of the meal, the waiter finally showed up and asked how things were going. I noticed that he frequently took the liberty of chatting with the older blond and redhead at the table one foot away from us, as well as the older brunette at the table two feet behind us. I guess we're too young to be his type. Or perhaps, since we didn't order wine with our meals, he didn't feel like we would leave much of a tip. I have a sweet tooth, and usually enjoy ordering a good dessert after my meals. I really didn't want to press my luck with this establishment, though.
Posted by Kathy at February 14, 2004 10:35 PM